Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK jiBEACON
Edward M. Sweat t ami Carolyn H. Sweat t Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Susan Usher Net vs Editor
Doug Kutter. Tern- Pope and Dori Gurganus SUi [) Wrttirs
Johnny Craig Hftorts Editor
Peggy Earwrxxl OJJlce Managir
Carolyn H. Sweatt.. Adiirtistng Dlrix'tor
Ttinberley Adams. Cecelia Gore and
Bill Nlsbet Adi>ertlsing Representatives
Dorothy Brennan Graphic Artist
William Manning Pressman
Uremia dentitions Moore Photo Technician
Lonnle Sprinkle Assistant Pressman
Phoebe Clemmons and Frances Sweatt Circulation
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 7, 1991
Working Together
Is A Good Idea
On a cold winter's day a woman passing by a pet shop no
ticed a group of puppies huddled together in the sunshine ot a
window. She was touched by what appeared to be their efforts
to keep each other warm.
Stepping inside, she raised the point with the shopkeeper,
who quickly set her straight. That's not why the puppies huddle,
he told her. Rather, each is huddled up against the others in an
effort to warm himself.
Jake Wicker, semi-retired from the Institute of Government,
uses that story as an example of when governments successfully
work together: When it's a situation where no one loses and ev
eryone wins.
It's good to see local municipalities trying to work together
for their mutual benefit.
Last week representatives of three coastal towns with a
common concern? sewage disposal ? met to begin discussing
their needs and the potential for a regional sewer system to meet
those needs. For economic and environmental reasons, more ex
tensive sewer service is paramount to the region's health.
Such a system may be a long time developing, but taking
this first step is still noteworthy. For apparently the first time,
the towns are talking with each other and with surrounding ma
jor developments and landowners on this topic. A joint commit
tee will look more closely at the regional concept. Each party is
going to have a better idea of what the others are doing or want
to do. and how that might fit into a regional master plan for de
velopment.
A regional approach could save everyone involved money
by eliminating duplication of expenditures for overhead, equip
ment and the like.
Moving forward on the project will take a level of coopera
tion among local municipalities that hasn't been required be
fore. but it could work if each community is willing to give a lit
tle '.n order to gain a great deal. While the county's support
would be helpful, that Brunswick County isn't interested in tak
ing a lead role in such a venture shouldn't surprise the the South
Brunswick Islands communities or keep from moving forward
with the project. The county has its hands full dealing with wa
ter service extensions and solid waste disposal.
Methods exist for working out "turf" related questions, such
as how the system will be operated and how it will be paid for
in a manner fair to all participants.
Whatever happens next, these towns deserve credit for their
willingness to sit down with each and explore ways of working
together on addressing the area's sewage disposal dilemma. It's
to everyone's advantage for their efforts to succeed.
Let us hope they can devise a plan and move quickly
enough to stay even with or ahead of the increasing demand for
sewer services in our area.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Put The Blome
Where It Belongs
To the editor:
I don't know if you, or how many people read the letter to the editor
in the Star-News Aug. 10 from the man criticizing the veterinarians as
vampires, the animal control officers as cannibals and the local govern
ment as being inefficient.
This all came about as WWAY-TV showed a picture of a dog that had
been carried to the pound being put to death.
Even though it broke my heart to see it have to be done, as 1 am a
great lover of animals, 1 wish to compliment WWAY-TV lor trying to
make the public and pet owners aware that it happens to thousands of an
imals that have to be put away every year due to the lack of responsibili
ty of the pet owners.
The Humane Society in Wilmington and the Animal Welfare League
here in Brunsw ick County do everything possible to avoid this situation.
Having the animals spayed or neutered is the only solution. II they are
never born they don't end up in the pound.
Brunswick County Animal Welfare League has a spay and neuter
program to help defray the cost to people who feel they can't afford it.
As for our veterinarians, they spend years in school training to save
the lives of animals. I would call them angels of mercy instead of vam
pires. The only way they destroy an animal is terminal illness or by re
quest of the ow ner of the pet
As for die animal control officers, I feel sorry for them as they are
forced to do the job on account of the pet populauon explosion and irre
sponsible pet owners. It is the pet owners who arc the murderers when
they allow their pets to have litter after litter, then do nothing about it but
dump them out on the neighbors or carry thein to the pound. They arc
not ignorant of the fact that the animal will be killed if not adopted by
some animal lover.
Maybe some people here in Brunswick County have criticized our
animal control officers. Let's put the blame on the ones causing it. I'm
sure the officers hate that part of their job, because two of them have
confessed to me how hard it is to make the decision of which one has to
die and which one lives to see if it can be adopted.
Thanks to / he Brunswick Beacon for putting the pet of the week pic
tures in the paper and for the cooperation given to the Brunswick County
Animal Welfare League by publishing our news articles.
Information about the spay and neuter program of the league can be
obtained by calling 754-4X% or 754-6323. Wake up pet owners; let's do
away with the gas chamber and cut the pel population explosion by being
responsible for your animals.
Donations will be appreciated to help continue the program ? P.O.
Box 1965, Shallotie, N.C. 2X459.
Alma Tolson
Shallotie
It's Time For Sleeping America To Wake Up
Sorry folks, bul 1 just can't let
one of the year's juiciest news sto
ties out of Washington pass by
without throwing in my two cents
of commentary.
In case you haven't heard, some
of our esteemed Congressmen have
been somewhat negligent lately in
the area of personal finances.
House members have bounced
thousands of dollars in checks at lite
House bank, without penally, and it
was recently disclosed that lawmak
ers owe S3U0.000 in unpaid food
bills at the House and Senate restau
rants.
I can't even stand calling them
lawmakers anymore. So for the sake
of argument, let's just call them law
breakers.
Anyway, the response in Wash
ington has been typical. Instead of
getting rid of the real problem, the
Congressmen decided to do away
with the House bank and make ev
eryone pay cash at the restaurants.
Gee, what a novel idea. Who
would have ever thought of requir
ing the people who are trying to
deal with a three trillion dollar na
tional debt to have money in the
bank to cover their own checks.
And what a wonderful idea it was
to make those Congressmen pay for
Doug
Rutter
their meals when they eat. That's
just what the rest of America has
been doing all along.
Is it any wonder this country is so
fouled up? Most Congressmen are
so out of touch with the average
American citizen. there's no way
they can he adequate representa
tives.
First of all. they make $125,000 a
year. I'm not sure what the average
American earns a year, but it
doesn't even come close to six fig
ures. You can bank on that.
Besides the comfy salary. Con
gressmen gel a lot of perks. They
have their own tennis courts, swim
ming pools and gyms. And they
have free doctors, nurses and medi
cal technicians on call in the
Capitol.
The medical treatment is free to
members of Congress, but you can
bet somebody pays for it. If you
want to know who, try looking in
tlie mirror.
Congressmen also have spccial
license lags so they can park in no
parking /ones around Washington.
If they do get a ticket, the Mouse
sergeant at arms quietly helps take
carc of it.
They even get the best parking
spots at airports, for crying out
loud. Think of that the next, time
you go to the airport and have to
walk six miles to the terminal.
I don't know any other
Americans with those kinds of
perks. You'd think the members of
Congress were royalty or some
thing.
I like what a spokesman for the
National Taxpayers Union had to say
about all this horse manure. "If they
were all subjected to private sector
performance standards, they'd all be
out of a job."
I think it's sort of ironic that
Congressmen arc bouncing checks
and failing to pay restaurant bills,
yet have no problem grilling some
one like Supreme Court nominee
Clarence Thomas.
How can Congress judge anyone
when House members have been
writing rubber checks without pen
ally and House ami Senate members
have been sneaking out ol resiau
rants when the eashier isn't look
?ng?
All nl this heal over the way
Congressmen handle ilieir money
and the money ol taxpayers has
breathed new life into a proposal to
limit the terms of Mouse ami Senate
members.
The president ol the United
States can only serve eight years,
but there are no limits on how long
someone can serve in Congress.
Some think this creates problems,
because it sets the stage lor (vople
to become "lifetime politicians."
Once somebody gets into oil ice and
gets strong financial backing, it can
be very hard to get them out of of
fice.
The United States Congress may
have gone one step loo far this time.
They may have done just enough
damage to wake up some Amer
icans who have been sleeping for
loo long.
However, limiting terms isn't go
ing to solve any problems in Con
gress. If the people don't care
enough about who is representing
them in Washington to vole, tliey
deserve whatever they get.
It's Like Stepping Into The 'Fast Lane'
"Gci ready to enter another
world," my brother turned and said
to me.
The loaded pickup rolled toward
Charlotte. The sun had already set,
leaving just a trace of orange sky in
the West.
We used flashlights to find our
way around in the dark, driving tent
stakes into the brittle clay on a slop
ing hill along the back side of the
Charlotte Motor Speedway, our
home for a weekend.
It was another world.
It was my first NASCAR race.
We joined the 2(X).(XX) or more peo
ple who watched as Geoff Bodine
narrowly coasted in on fumes to
win the Mello Ycllo 5(X). It was
more than just cars zooming around
a racetrack. It was an educational
trip.
I was told a person has not lived
until they've been to their first
National Association for Stock Car
Auto Racing competition. To call
yourself a Southerner, they said,
you have to experience it at least
once, but I had never cared a lick
for racing.
Terry
Pope
It took some adjusting. There
were Confederate (lags flying
around the campsite along with Old
Glory and ones of different colors
with numbers on them. It took me a
while to figure out what they repre
sented, the numbers on race cars of
their favorite drivers.
In sports, athletes are usually
called by their last names ? Jordan,
Montana, Barkley, Nicklaus. But in
auto racing, the fans arc on first
name basis with the drivers ? Calc,
Kyle, Rusty, Darrcll, Mark, Dale.
Arguing over Ford-: Chcvrolets and
Pontiacs is the host way to make
small talk around the track.
There were campers pulling
small cars painted like the ones on
(-A
the racetrack, with numbers and
wild orange and lime colors, the
whole works. Some had hauled golf
carts to Charlotte painted like their
favorite race cars. These people
were serious about racing.
A live band set up on portable
generators and started playing coun
try favorites in the camping area
past midnight, until a storm breezed
through and rain fell for about an
hour. When the rain stopped, they
kicked back up again.
I was told that things could get
rough before the night was through,
from people who had drank one too
many and would want to show their
tail, but that never happened on this
night.
When you go to a place for the
first time, you don't know how to
act. 1 kept asking about things that
were happening across the field and
was told, "Racing isn't done on a
field, it's a track!" Excuse me, but
I'm just more used to football.
When the engines start and the
drivers follow the pace car around
the track, that's when you realize
that it's not the same as watching it
on television. I reached for a
Kleenex to plug up my ears and
spent the afternoon with them care
fully stuffed, for the noise of 20 or
more engines speeding more than
170 mph on a track in front of you
can be deafening.
You can lcel the rumbling inside
your chest from these powerful ma
chines before they reach you. They
turn into colorful blurs as they
speed past.
A while back I wrote an article
on District 2 Commissioner Jerry
Jones. In the process, 1 found out
that he is a Richard Petty fan from
way back, having named his son,
Kyle, after Petty 's son.
One fan walked the track with a
banner that said. "Petty ? 201 Before
Your (sic) Done," hoping dial the
king of racing can slip in another win
before he retires next year.
Most people, including my fami
ly, can't believe that I actually gave
in and stepped into the other world.
Hut 1 was able to leave it all behind.
I tlon't have a crazy urge to buy a
Ford, chewing tobacco or Lite beer.
I'm back in Brunswick County.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Quest Does Not Meet State Requirements
To the editor:
Known in our local schools as A/A, advisor/ad
visee, 1. ions-Quest International, Skills for
Adolcsccncc (SAF) (6-8) was initiated in Bruns
wick County sch(x>ls by Jell Cumbie, drug and al
cohol program coordinator.
Begun three years ago, '89-'90, die pilot school
was Shallotte Middle grades 6-X. All tcachcrs
were instructed during the summer that they were
to attend, no exceptions, in August, a three-day,
25-hour intensive training by Quest from their
workshop guidebook. Thus they would then be
qualified, certified Quest facilitator/advisor/ thera
pists.
Even a casual review of this guidebook will re
veal to any interested citizen that the techniques
employed arc quite similar to those used previous
ly by many of our former enemies (North Korea,
Red China, Cuba, ctc.) ? techniques with one cen
tral purpose ? to bring each person's thinking in
line wiih what is perceived as politically correct.
This course was funded locally, suuc and feder
ally, and begun as a drug and alcohol deterrent
program. It is definitely funded by our county, our
state and especially the federal government as a
drug program in accordance with the President's
Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act and
amendment 101-226.
This law mandates that all schools receiving
any federal monies, which includes all public
schools, must teach that illegal drug use and ille
gal possession and use of alcohol is wrong and
harmful and that this must be a clear and consis
tent no usage message. If a school district is not in
strict compliance with this law, all federal monies
received are in imminent danger. This is the immi
nent danger to which I referred at our September
school board meeting.
Quest International insists, as do our principals,
assistant principals, counselors, many teachers.
Jeff Cumbic, P. R. Hankins and olhcr adminisira
tors, our board of education and the local Lions
Club, that Quest SFA (6-X) is in absolute compli
ance with all laws, standards and requirements.
There arc, however, a number of concerns and
questions on the part of not only myself, but many
parents; more each day judging by the growing
group of children being removed from A/A at
Shallottc Middle Sch(x>l.
Two of our middle school principals, Shallottc
and South, have told parents requesting to move
their children from Quest that actually it is not so
much a drug program, but really more a self-es
teem building course.
As a curriculum implemented as a drug pro
gram, isn't it strange that out of seven uniLs of
study only one, unit six, even addresses that issue
for which it is funded? Is it any wonder many arc
beginning to question why all the other six units
(See LETTERS, Following Page)